Mice were given dangerous narcotics including PCP, known as angel dust, and methamphetamine, known as crystal meth, at a Welsh university.

Animal rights workers have criticised Cardiff University for allowing the research into drug addiction, describing it as “ridiculous”.

Pressure group the Animal Justice Project claimed the work of the scientists was cruel and of little value.

A spokesman for the university said the work provided important insights into degenerative brain conditions and drug addictions in humans and animals.

Claire Palmer, of the Animal Justice Project, said the experiments included 96 rats who were injected with amphetamine, known as speed, for seven consecutive days.

'A futile experiment'

She said: “Experiments have involved purposely damaging the brains of rats and mice, and the task-training of animals.”

She said the animals’ food was then limited “to aid behavioural training” before they were given more drugs and subjected to “repeated training sessions.”

“One of the drugs given by researchers intentionally made rats nauseous,” Ms Palmer said.

“The outcome of this futile experiment was no different to that of an experiment carried out seven years earlier, by the same researchers.”

Ms Palmer insisted human volunteers should be used instead of animals.

“These experiments do not reveal anything about the effects on humans of recreational drugs,” she said.

“We believe the difference between a mouse and a human is too great.”

The information was unearthed by the AJP by analysing research papers.

Rodents are then killed

Last year New Zealand banned the testing of legal highs or psychoactive substances on animals and the charity wants the UK to follow suit.

The mice and rats are killed after they have been given narcotics.

“It’s completely ridiculous, it’s joke science,” Ms Palmer said.

“They kill them so they can study the brains. But the mouse brain, of course, is completely different to a human’s.

“If they were serious about the brain similarities they would use monkeys. But they use mice because they are easily available and they think they can hide it from the public.”

The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection also criticised the experiments.

“Animals are regularly used in disturbing experiments to investigate the effects of drink and recreational drugs,” chief executive Michelle Thew said.

“The BUAV believes it is wrong that animals should have to suffer in this way so that researchers can investigate the effects of substances that humans voluntarily abuse and which are already known to be harmful.

"These types of tests are not only cruel but also unnecessary as there are plenty of humans who voluntarily do these things that doctors can, and do, study.”

An end to suffering

The RSPCA plans to lobby the next government to clamp down on animal research.

“We’ll be calling on whoever forms the next UK Government after the General Election to take decisive action and ensure that absolutely everything possible is done to avoid lab animals experiencing severe pain, suffering distress or lasting harm,” Dr Penny Hawkins, of the charity’s research animals department said.

“This includes sticking with, and building upon, the current government’s delivery plan on research animals.

“We want to see the government work towards a policy ban on licensing procedures involving severe suffering.

“Ending severe suffering is what the public wants, what the RSPCA wants, and what scientists themselves tell us they want to achieve.”

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Cardiff University said the experiments were undertaken to alleviate human and animal disease “through the advancement of medical, dental, biological and veterinary understanding”.

“Research conducted at Cardiff University using psychoactive drugs on mice and rats such as amphetamine and apomorphine involve studies investigating areas such as neurodegenerative diseases and drug addiction,” a spokesman said.

'New avenues of hope for patients and their families'

“Our research work developing new cell-based therapies for diseases such as Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease is widely considered to offer the best prospect of achieving major advances in cell repair in these major human neurodegenerative diseases, offering new avenues of hope for patients and their families.”

The university said the work was “generating data that is directly relevant to cell therapy programmes elsewhere in stroke, dementia, and spinal cord injury”.

“Our greater understanding of the psychological and neurochemical processes involved in the transition to compulsive drug-taking has the potential to inform therapeutic approaches to treating drug addiction,” the spokesman said.

“We strongly consider that such studies are ethical, necessary and socially justified when undertaken under the strict guidelines optimising animal welfare, and using methods designed to minimise pain or suffering,

“All animal-related research work at Cardiff is carried out under the strict conditions imposed by UK legislation including stringent ethical scrutiny,” the spokesman said.

He added that research animals were kept “at the highest standards and used in minimum numbers”.

“Wherever possible the use of animals is avoided and alternative methods are employed,” the spokesman said.

“Cardiff University is committed to providing open and transparent information about our research involving animals and our standards of animal care and welfare.”

And he insisted that the mouse was a good model for human conditions.

“The mouse makes an excellent model for human disease because the organisation of their DNA and their gene expression is similar to humans, with 98% of human genes having a comparable gene in the mouse,” the spokeswoman said.

“They have similar reproductive and nervous systems to humans, and suffer from many of the same diseases such as cancer, diabetes and even anxiety.

“Manipulating their genes can lead them to develop other diseases that do not naturally affect them, and as a result research on mice has helped the understanding of both human physiology and the causes of disease.”